Behind Closed Doors
by tromana
Summary: AU oneshot collection, set in a universe where Katniss was captured by the Capitol at the end of 'Catching Fire' instead of Peeta. New: Jabberjays: The Capitol gave her a strength, but now they're stripping it away from her again.
1. Red Sky in the Morning

**A/N: **Behind Closed Doors will (hopefully) be a oneshot collection, with each fic based in a universe where Katniss was captured by the Capitol at the end of Catching Fire instead of Peeta. I don't know how often I will be able to write oneshots for this, as I have a lot of other fics going on, but I hope to write at least a couple more at some point. What can I say? Reviews will probably help encourage me to write faster.

The first, Red Sky in the Morning, is dedicated to sirenofodysseus aka Iloveplotbunnies.

x tromana

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**Title:** Red Sky in the Morning.  
**Author: **tromana  
**Rating: **T  
**Characters:** Katniss/Peeta  
**Summary:** How could Peeta, the boy with the bread, betray her like this?  
**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Hunger Games, or any characters associated with it.  
**Notes: **Written for sirenofodysseus aka Iloveplotbunnies.

**Red Sky in the Morning**

Tracker-jackers whirl around her head, buzzing angrily. Katniss winces when she receives sting after sting. Her hands flail as she attempts to protect herself from the Capitol monstrosities. But there's nothing she can do, however hard she tries, she cannot protect herself from them. She runs, or at least tries to; before she remembers that she needs the bow and arrow. It's her lifeline, the only way she'll be able to get out of the arena alive. Without it, it's simply a case of when, not if, she'll die. Katniss scrabbles back to Glimmer's body, horrified by what it has become. The girl has swollen beyond recognition; she didn't stand a chance when the hive slammed to the ground. Tracker-jackers continue to whirl around her head furiously as she tries to extract the bow and arrows from Glimmer's fingertips. It's difficult work, but Katniss knows she has to do this.

Footsteps approach and the world glitters. Everything she glances at is touched with a slightly unnatural shine. But this is real; Katniss can feel Glimmer's flesh at her fingertips, she can hear the angry tracker-jackers buzzing furiously and she knows they are poised to sting her at any given moment; she can smell the woodland forest around her and sense the sweat trickling down her back from the exertion. She looks up to see Peeta staring back down at her and immediately, she feels a sense of relief. Peeta, the boy with the bread, he's come back to help her, he's come back to _save_ her again and again. Katniss smiles as he kneels down beside her and covers his hand with hers. Her heart skips a beat, but she'd never dare tell him that. He's not meant to have this kind of effect on her, it's all for the cameras.

"Peeta," she breathes and he doesn't say a word.

Instead, he places a hand on her cheek and pulls her in for a passionate embrace. His teeth dig across her bottom lip, his tongue draws patterns across the roof of her mouth. The timing is entirely inappropriate, considering the tracker-jackers haven't entirely dispersed and she still needs to reclaim _her_ bow off Glimmer, but for once, she doesn't seem to even care. Peeta practically shines back at her and reminds her that they are still alive, still fighting for their lives, and she still has a promise to Prim to keep. When she's breathless, she feels a strange something dig across the back of her neck.

And it is at that moment when Peeta roughly pushes her aside, as if she were worthless. Nothing. There's a hint of darkness in his eyes which she just cannot associate with the boy with the bread. And there's a look of callousness which appears foreign on his comforting expression. Tentatively, Katniss reaches to the back of her neck and is almost stunned when her fingers return to her vision coated in sticky red blood. Her own, this time. Then, the pain sinks in and she finds herself yelping in agony. Bodily, Peeta pushes her over and onto Glimmer's body, but not without stealing her backpack of supplies.

"What are you doing?" she whispers, her voice surprisingly hoarse.

"I never loved you, sweetheart," he mutters in response as he slips the now-bloody knife back down into his pants. "It was all for the cameras. But don't worry; District 12 will have a winner. Me."

He turns on his heels and runs into the glimmering distance. She screams his name over and over, but he appears not to listen or alternatively, not to care. Katniss tries to pull herself off of Glimmer's body but the exertion alone exhausts her. She knows she's bleeding out and that the tracker-jacker venom is slowly but surely taking control of her muscles. Briefly, she imagines her body is swelling up in the same way as Glimmer's has, but she cannot feel anything now. She's numb. Peeta has betrayed her with foreign, cruel words. He's stabbed her in the back, literally. Katniss wants to fight it, but it's becoming increasingly difficult. She knows the cameras on fixated on her now, filming her very last moments for all to see. Prim's pretty features flood her thoughts and she can imagine the disappointment and the heartache in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Prim," she whispers before closing her eyes.

All she wants to do is sleep. And soon enough, a welcoming darkness envelopes her; it's all she wants at this moment in time.

Katniss hears the cannon go off, the one signifying her death. But she's still alive, she's still breathing, she can feel the cool breeze tickling her skin. Tentatively, she opens one eye and then the other. Gleaming whites stare back at her and hurt the back of her eyes. Bonds hold her in position, but she doesn't have the energy to fight back at them. White bars are directly opposite her; the girl on fire is trapped in a cage, she muses. Contained, perhaps, would be the more appropriate word.

An Avox walks in and sits beside her, the only flash of color that Katniss feels like she's seen in a while. She wishes that the man would speak to her, offer her a few words of comfort, but she knows that it's impossible for him to do so without his tongue. Instead, he feeds her a small bowl of mush slowly and carefully, and occasionally strokes back her matted hair. Katniss wishes she can find joy in finding that she is actually still alive, but then, she wonders if this is a fate worse than death.

She's a prisoner of the Capitol now and being routinely tortured, but for what purpose?

But then, she knows that if she actually knew the answer to that question, it wouldn't make her current predicament any easier to deal with.


	2. Feverfew

**A/N: **Did I mention before that this collection will probably be very non-linear? Well, it'll be very non-linear.

Thank you to kathiann for reviewing _Red Sky in the Morning_.

x tromana

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**Title: **Feverfew  
**Author:** tromana  
**Rating: **T  
**Characters: **Katniss, Johanna, Prim, Snow  
**Summary: **All change.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Hunger Games, or any characters associated with it.  
**Notes:** Set in an AU wherein Katniss was captured by the Capitol at the end of 'Catching Fire' instead of Peeta; part two of the 'Behind Closed Doors' Universe. For watchyouwalk.

**Feverfew**

Katniss sits in the center of her painfully white cell, staring out into space. It's deathly quiet and she doesn't know whether she likes or hates it. Noise, at least, provides her with ample distraction from her current predicament. But silence, silence allows her to try and think things through. However, thinking can let her mind go into overdrive; it _encourages_ the demons to come out and play.

And Katniss has never reacted all too well to the silent treatment. Unless there's a cause for it, of course, like when she's hunting.

Three hours ago, though she cannot be sure of the passage of time in this timeless space, she had been installed in this cell. She'd spent her first hour investigating every nook and cranny, testing the bars to the window and the doors. The window, she'd surmised, was to remind her of what was on the other side. Freedom. She'd tried desperately to find some way to escape, to reclaim the freedom that she deserves. However, her efforts had all been in vain. This cell, this cage, is foolproof. There is no way for her to go in or out, not unless _they_ choose for her to.

That's why she's now waiting in silence, for something, _anything_ to happen.

Eventually, her patience pays off.

She can hear the screams echoing down the hallway. Johanna, she presumes. Katniss knows that the District 7 victor was captured at the same time as her. However, since being whisked to the Capitol, she hasn't seen hide nor hair of her. In fact, this is the first time she's heard her in nearly a month.

After all, she's been staying in her old rooms in the Training Center. There, she's been regularly visited by Caesar Flickerman, by her old prep team, even President Snow on one memorable occasion. Each tried desperately to persuade her to behave, to bend to their whims, to record interviews to be broadcast to the districts.

But of course, anything that she hears in the Capitol, anything that comes from Snow, Katniss knows is effectively a poison.

It's hardly surprising that they've grown bored of her stubbornness and decided to change the game a little.

Katniss wonders if this is where Johanna has been all the while. She may not like the woman, but the sense of pain that rips through her with each and every scream means she cannot help but sympathize. Nobody deserves torture, and ever since arriving at the Capitol, on both occasions, it seems like that is all she ever sees here. They say it's their way of controlling the districts, but it's still inhumane. They're not animals, they're people and they deserve that respect.

Don't they?

She also finds herself vaguely considering precisely what they are doing to Johanna, and if she will eventually have to endure the same treatment.

Then, it starts.

A scream, a plaintive wail. It's a sound that's all too familiar and it goes straight to Katniss' heart. It's the sound of her sister, Prim, in pain. Prim's screams are wordless, but full of emotion and Katniss feels as though she might as well have received a blow to the head.

Logically, she knows this isn't Prim. She's safe, in District 12. It's probably just a Jabberjay, or at least, a recording of one. But still, it sounds too _real _to be the mindless mimicking of a mutt. It sounds as though her sister might as well just be on the other side of the wall.

It's enough to cause Katniss to fly to her feet, to try and scale the walls as she looks for another escape. Soon enough, Katniss finds her screams echoing her sister's as they drive her into a fit of rage. But then, this is just what the Capitol wants. They want her to lose it, to drive her insane. Why else would they treat her like this? Even with this knowledge at the forefront of her mind, she cannot stop herself. She wants to find Prim, to comfort her and look after her. Or, alternatively, she wants her bow, or any bow really, so she can send an arrow straight through the stinking mutt's throat in order to silence it.

But of course, she can do neither. She cannot even escape out of this prison cell.

In the end, people, dressed in white, come. They restrain her, but she continues to fight against them. She's tied down to a board, but still, the sounds of Prim's screams echo in her mind. Tears stream down her face as she tries to resist.

But she cannot resist the needle piercing her fragile skin.

She cannot resist the lure of sleep after the drugs get into her system.

The dreams are just as bad, if not worse.

Now, she can _see_ Prim suffering as well as hear her.

Frantically, Katniss calls out her name, makes foolish promises which she knows she cannot keep. She begs Gale, Peeta, somebody, _anybody_ to help her, to help her sister. To stop all this nonsense. Even in her dreams, she's restrained and she tries to fight against them to no avail. Nothing stops her from seeing her sister being tortured a matter of meters away. Nothing stops her from hearing the screams echo in her mind.

Katniss screws her eyes tightly shut to try and block it away.

When she opens them, she's surrounded by whiteness. She's back in her cage and she's awake again.

There's silence once more.

Eventually, the sound of approaching footsteps breaks up the monotony and she shudders in revulsion when she sees Snow staring down at her. His snakelike lips move, but she cannot catch the words. She doesn't want to catch them, either.

"I need an answer, Miss Everdeen," he eventually states when his patience is quite obviously wearing thin.

"I'll do it."

"You'll say exactly what's asked of you?"

She nods frenetically. Considering what's just happened, she'd agree to anything to never have to endure _that_ again.

Once, people had always described her as being the strong one.

After all she's been through, now, she's not so sure.


	3. Jabberjays

**Title: **Jabberjays  
**Author:** tromana  
**Rating: **T  
**Characters: **Katniss, Johanna  
**Summary: **The Capitol gave her a strength, but now they're stripping it away from her again.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Hunger Games, or any characters associated with it.  
**Notes:** Set in an AU wherein Katniss was captured by the Capitol at the end of 'Catching Fire' instead of Peeta; part three of the 'Behind Closed Doors' Universe.

**Jabberjays**

The girl is screaming again.

This is becoming a regular occurrence; a little _too_ regular for Johanna's liking.

Sometimes, she wonders if it is actually Katniss screaming, or just those soulless Jabberjays, echoing whatever they've heard, mindless and brainless.

Designed to drive her insane.

Johanna grips hold of the side of the cot, and finds herself rocking from side to side.

She can't go insane, she _won't_.

She has to cling on.

She's not going to be a tool of their games.

She's not weak. Not like the others.

Not like Katniss.

Their plans, she knows them all. That's why Johanna doesn't care about other people. It's a strength the Capitol gave her when they stripped her of everyone she cares about. Now, she only worries about herself. The Capitol can't hurt her if she doesn't care about anybody else, can they?

Katniss, everyone commented on how strong since her emergence as victor. They speak of how well she coped in the arena. How _dignified _she'd been on tour, and when they'd discovered what this Quarter Quell was.

Johanna hadn't fallen for it in an instant, because she'd always been able to see the scared little girl hiding behind the false bravado.

It's only there because she cares too much. About Peeta, about her sister, her mother. Her 'cousin', Gale, too.

Briefly, she wonders what she'd look like now, if she cared to take a look in the mirror. Not that the Capitol would offer her a looking glass, mind. It's a weapon she could use and they're only allowed to use weapons against her.

But she can imagine the emaciated body. The scars, the flesh wounds, the hollowed eyes.

And the fear behind them?

Because Katniss' screams – whether real, or recorded - are beginning to get to her.

Somewhere along the line, she'd started caring.

Johanna knows that that is a weakness, but she can't stop herself.

It's human nature.


End file.
